Public Speaking Book - A Handpainted Cake

        A painting of any kind is always valuable and to a certain degree it brings us inspiration and amusement. What about a painted cake, have you come across any?

        A fondant cake, be it for a birthday, wedding, or any occasion, have driven people to themed ones. Other than the cake toppers, the cake itself is sculpted to link to a person's interests, work and hobbies. Themed cakes may have been in the climatic state yet; however, a new trend is blooming and that is handpainted cakes.

         I'd consider myself fortunate enough to have inclined in drawing and painting (the simple ones though) as I could incorporate it in my themed cakes. Hence, I had my first handpainted book cake for our good friend in Innishannon.

         Last year, every time we called in for a (flying visit) cup of coffee, I spotted some readings about public speaking.  So when I decided to make her a cake, a book cake was the second choice (Santa Claus on a tub was for Christmas, but, alas I didn't get the chance to make it and I told her about it).
        It took me a while to figure out the title of the book - it must be something about cakes that is linked to public speaking. Luckily, an idea awakened me on a cold, wild, wet, windy Irish morning.
     
        Later that day on a piece of paper I drew; then carefully my hand guided a brush on my book cake, glancing at the paper once in a while. Tickled with amusement and pride, I made something new - a handpainted cake.

        My plan actually was to make a smaller book cake on a far left of three mugs of coffee on heart-shaped coasters. However, due to time constraint, I was only making one cup of coffee which after a wink of my eyes was converted into a small pot of flowers!  Ain't I a magician?                   

       To her I apologised for the flower pot which lacked finesse. Anyways, when she opened her door, upon seeing the book and the flower pot I was holding, "Did you do that?" she exclaimed.
 
       Several attempts to cut the cake were made, but to no success Tony Barry ended with chocolate chips. For the reason being, "that's mine and it's a shame to cut it," Reena said.

       Painting is also one of her cups of tea and we both love small potted plants as centrepiece.
       

Princess Emily

          Whenever we spotted a cute little child, we always compare her or him to a lovely doll.

           I first met Emily sometime last year when she just popped up at the door while Tony and I were having our breakfast. I was surprised as no hesitation, she ran to Tony's lap. 'Who is she?' I thought.

           Emily isn't just pretty, but a lovely girl and it's always a pleasure to have a moment with her. Emily is Chris' daughter; Chris and Tony are good friends. Once in a while, they have flying visit to Barryland as they live in Kinsale.

          I have been looking forward for the next Trick-or-Treat because of Emily. Why? Last Halloween, while I was setting the house into a Halloween mood, Emily and her siblings surprised us again. They were in their stunning costumes. There and then, Halloween cakes have been knocking my head for more fun (hopefully) in Barryland.

         Little did I know, I'd make her birthday cake and it's an honour for me to do so.

The first layout of the cake

         The cake was of two flavours, Maritoni white velvet and velvet deluxe. Since Maritoni white velvet cake is too soft, I set it on a Maritoni velvet deluxe cake, which is denser. The small layer that held the waist of the doll and each mini cake that held the (two) candles were velvet  deluxe, too.
Inspired by the colour of the year, I used rose pink and fuchsia to dress up the doll. To me, a batik design is always striking, so the influenced in the sleeves. The little white flowers created a simple effect in the gown, yet it looked elegant. The two yellow roses on her hands and the presents made the ambiance a happier birthday. Applying the gloss, however, made it looked like a toy doll.
           
          To differ Princess Emily from the Barbie cake I made before, I used glitter sugar to decorate the mini cakes and the cake board to effect a simple garden; hence the happy birthday and her name were painted on the flowers. And to balance the placement of the candles, a batik inspired pillar is added with the tiny yellow flowers forming five to depict her age other than the candles.

   
          Emily is a princess who deserves not only a lovely cake and birthday wishes, but all the best.                        
   
               

Don't let the dogs out

       'Is it a cake?' asked the birthday man.
     
       Yes, it's a Maritoni Velvet Deluxe cake!

      The wife's concept was a big bike with two dogs chasing the driver. 

      Being a neophyte in the cake's world, I reckon I couldn't make it. However, it is in my nature that the more the task is so challenging to me, the more I love to go heaven and earth to make it.   I was in the Internet every now and then to look for any tutorial videos or photos. There's one video, but it's about a big motorbike cake which wasn't helpful to me. Again, I ended downloading photos of  motorbikes and bits by bits I moulded every part of the motorbike cake topper. Bingo! I had put them together and that inspired
me, of course. 
   
        What about the driver?

In a zoomed in tiny photo I gazed and patiently moulded the driver. Setting it on top of the motorbike was another story. I reckoned to make a parcel over the tank to hold the driver, yet I opted to lengthen the seat towards the tank. Obviously it worked.
                                                 
The scene was on a private road filled with gravel.To make an intense effect, I tilted the motorbike towards the big stones alongside the road.  Making the fondant dogs was the final adventure.  It seemed difficult, but with my magical hands, it turned out to be easy. I even teased my hubby to be good to me,  otherwise there'll be loads of dogs chasing after him.


       Mission accomplished!

       But what's more about the cake?
     
       Just by coincidence, a story about the dogs came up. Roan has two dogs, I know. Because I used grey fondant for the road, I created a brownie dog and to make a variance, I created the next dog a Dalmatian look alike. Little did I know that the brown dog is Lyka, one of Roan's dogs, and the Dalmatian dog is the neighbour's dog, which is Lyka's boyfriend!    

         It's not only a mere cake. Indeed, there's a story behind Maritoni cakes.

 






   

39% Off on Birthday Shoes

Have you fond of shoes?

The Linda Murphy shoes special edition was 39% off on 25^th January on her 39^th natal day.

     

      Yes, it’s a cake, a Maritoni Melange Velvet Cake for the wonderful and thoughtful daughter Linda Murphy.


        Grace and Conor specially requested a purple shoe cake for their Mum, no further details were given. Linda knew she definitely will have a cake with a purple motif, but little did she expect that it’s a shoe cake as we hid the cake in our bedroom just a minute before they called in yesterday.

The different flavours are vividly captured.

        The birthday card was the précis of what went on when the cake was presented to the Murphys in Kenneigh, West Cork.

    

                          


         







                                      The percentage symbol turned out to be facing the other way around as I took them out during the travel. Anyway, no one noticed it until I posted the photos.                                  
        
           There’s more fun in Maritoni cakes!

Conor's Ambulance Cake

 Conor's Ambulance Cake

       

         Conor's ambulance cake with a flashing light. The top           

and bottom layers of the ambulance cake were Maritoni  Velvet   

Deluxe cakes and the middle layer was Maritoni Velvet Delight          

cake;  whereas the road was a Maritoni White Velvet cake. All the           

letters and numbers were carefully handmade to suit the space          

provided. The happy birthday candles were Conor's choice which        

he bought himself.            

                

       Children are fascinated with birthday cakes. They usually want their cakes to look as real as  can be as the characters in Disneyland or anything of their interest.  Our grandchildren, Grace and Conor are two of those children who are allured with Disney characters. Grace is into Disney princesses and Conor is into tractors, fire engines and the like. 

         Since I have found myself re-born in baking, particularly in fondant cakes, I have fun time with Grace (7 years old) and Conor (4 years old) decorating cakes as our bonding moments. I let them explore their creativity in making cake toppers and how they'd decorate a particular cake. Doing stuff with them is absolutely heaven! 

The first glance of the ambulance cake 

            In November 2013, Conor had chosen his 4th birthday cake ( for 4th January 2014) to  be an ambulance cake with a flashing light! Most of the time that they called in Barryland, Crossmahon for a hug and a chat, he'd sit with  me and pick his ambulance design in the Internet (to be this and that), of course not to forget about the flashing light, which was his Ganggang (Grandad) Tony's assignment.

         'Twas a bit of a challenge to me as at the time I only had the regular rolling pin, a knife and a piece of fondant tool! (I'm just a year living here yet.) But as what it is said, 'When there's a will, there's a way.' With Conor's trust in me to make his ambulance cake, I was equipped with excitement, resourcefulness and love. It was a great honour indeed! (Now I have most of what I need, thanks God.)

The happy Grandad Tony

            Conor's ambulance cake turned out to be fabulous and he adored it; hence Maritoni Cakes' kick off . Thanks to Linda Murphy for filling me up with so much encouragement. 

      

                   And mind you, because of Conor's ambulance cake with the flashing light, Grace has been looking forward (this early yet) for her Sofia the First castle cake for her 8th birthday in June. 

          (And we have a secret as well for their Mammy Linda's birthday cake, 25th January and their Daddy Pat in April .  ^-^) 

Re-Born in Cakes

A Maritoni White Velvet cake:
2014 mini cakes have shiny patches; 14 is a 'batik' inspired.

          Baking was one of my childhood interests. I learned to bake in the early 80s with my Mum in Cotabato City, Philippines. However, icing the cakes, particularly cooked icing wasn't my cup of tea.
          Decades passed without baking. I was hooked up in my career, not only in the mere world of teaching, but in all other extra curricular activities, to name campus journalism, badminton, girl scouting, folk dancing, arts and crafts (drawing, painting and cut outs in papers and styrofoam as learning devices and decorations), crocheting, sewing and designing curtains and other stuff.

          In 2007 teaching brought me to Thailand and no trace of baking was noted in my palms.

When the birthday girl got her car.

   
          There wasn't a single space at the back of my head to re-register baking until I met Grace and Conor Murphy who love themed cakes on their birthdays. So in October 2013, I found myself in sculpted car cake as my loving hubby gave me a silver Ford Focus as his birthday present to me. However, my car cake turned out to be a racing car!

Grace and Eoin cutting the Halloween butter vanilla cake

Trick-or-Treat came and the Halloween fondant cakes magnetised me to highlight the event in Barryland as Grace and Conor with Eoin and Alex would be scaring Barryland with their fabulous costumes.

        The proud Grace and Conor with the fire engine cake, a collaborative work.

       
           As newly re-born individual in cakes, the adventure has just begun for me and our grandchildren, Grace and Conor as they become my guest cake decorators on our cake bonding moments, it's a fun time learning, in fact. In our fire engine cake, their creativity has been nourished whilst   they made the cake toppers.

          Every priceless moment has been coupled with fondant cakes and sculpted cakes.  The themed cake is always linked to a person's interest or work.

A cake to welcome Baby Manuel

                  My children know that I can bake and I love baking, but I couldn't remember that I baked them any birthday cakes.

A Maritoni red velvet deluxe  laptop cake for our dear IT man, Reimark

        On 25th November 2013, I made a laptop cake to surprise my son. We rang him not only to greet him, but asked him to go online in fb to show him his birthday cake. Alas! He wished to cut the cake himself.

          A heaven cake was made to remember my late dad and my uncle on 12th December. It took me awhile to figure out how to decorate the cake. I browsed in the Internet any photo of a heaven cake, but there wasn't one that matched my wild imagination. Making the clouds and with the help of my pastry brush, the cake turned out to be simple, yet fabulous. Cutting the stars was a lot easier and I gave the credit to Ivy Hutt in England for the sets of fondant cutters packed with love to Barryland.

A Maritoni white velvet cake

         
          My dad was one of the pioneering jeepney drivers in Cotabato City, Philippines. So in honour of him, my hubby and I sculpted a jeepney cake on his first death anniversary, 22nd December, as our way of joining the rest of our family back home. My dad was once delivering soft drinks in retail shops in the city in late 70s and early 80s.
     
         The jeepney cake has become the driving force for me to engage into the cake's world.

A Philippine jeepney cake 

                       
             We hadn't finished the cake in a week's time as there was a couple of cakes in the house in the previous days. On the seventh day, Linda with Grace and Conor called in. Linda took a slice of the cake and to her surprise, the cake was as moist and tasty as it was on the day it was baked. There and then, she encouraged me more and more to go into the cake business.  Thanks to my dad in heaven!
                                                                         







     


               It's Christmas time!  It's a record breaking for me as I hadn't spent a single moment preparing for the family's Christmas dinner. All I did was baking and decorating cakes.

   

A Maritoni Melange Velvet cake

       
       In the last quarter of 2013, I had tried recipes that seem to be pleasing to me. I bumped to a red velvet cake in the Internet, but because I am used to customise whatever I do, (be it in lesson planning, cooking, gardening, baking and etc)  the laptop cake and the heaven cake, were distinctively tasteful. Hence, I came up with the Maritoni White Velvet, Maritoni Velvet Delight, and Maritoni Melange Velvet cakes. They're extra moist cakes that melts in the mouth!

A Maritoni Velvet Delight Cake

A Maritoni Velvet Delight

                The most exciting one I did was our New Year family cake. I was suppose to make the Murphys' house with their front drive and garden. However, I ran out of time due to the making of Santa Tony and Marie the Elf as unfortunately I didn't get any tylose powder that time. As quick as the wink of an eye, my flexibility had to work; hence built our house. The snowmen family were the Murphys and of course Grace and Conor picked the colours of the hats and scarfs.

A Maritoni Melange Velvet 

         Truly there's more fun in Maritoni cakes!

They're baked with love, cakes with love and cakes that you will surely love.

        A special credit is given to our son, Reimark for initiating Maritoni cakes blog. It's a website reviving me not only in cakes, but in writing, too.


         

A Teapot for a Friend

Before it was glossed

      A friend is a priceless treasure. We may have loads of friends, but there's only one gem or two in the bushes.

    This teapot was sculpted for a good friend, Colette Quinn. I didn't get the chance to see her on Christmas day, neither on New Year's day; so to wish her a prosperous 2014 is to have a chat over a pot of tea.
   
      A text message was sent from hubby's phone to let her know that a teapot would be on the way to her place later that night. Alas! She's going out with some friends, so we called in earlier instead. Tony was carrying the teapot to her kitchen. When Colette grabbed the handle of it, we gasped and she was surprised. Reading between the lines, she got the message.

       It's a cake!

       Yes, it is! It's a Maritoni white velvet cake.


      Earlier that night, Linda with Grace and Conor called in and as Grace spotted the teapot on the table, she grabbed the handle   and I gasped as well telling her it's a cake. Linda reckoned it wasn't a cake as the gloss in it made it look like a real porcelain teapot.
 
      To have it mistakenly as a porcelain teapot for the third time made my day!

        I learned that the handle was finally broken when it was lifted by one of her young lads. And for the cake itself to pass their taste buds is another bonus.

       The teapot was actually inspired by the colour of 2014, radiant orchid and I accented it with pale and bright yellow and deep green. Pantone said, 'Radiant orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health'. In fact, my confidence has been enhanced.

       Later that night I read more about the colour of the year 2014 and to my surprise, I found out that to bring out the best of radiant orchid is to pair it with pale yellow, bright yellow, deep green and pink.  Didn't I pot the gold before I knew it?

        Truly there's so much fun in Maritoni cakes and I'm pretty sure of that!

A Maritoni White Velvet teapot cake: the gloss makes it look a real porcelain teapot.